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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27124858">radiant</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittenscully/pseuds/kittenscully'>kittenscully</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>fictober 2020 [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The X-Files</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Post-Episode: s07e04 Millenium, Romance, Season/Series 07, they're in love and they know it</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:48:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,449</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27124858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittenscully/pseuds/kittenscully</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Under normal circumstances, her vulnerability would shock him. But things are different now, the shift tectonic and undeniable. He owes her the same trust that she’s showing him.</p><p>[fictober day 20]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fox Mulder/Dana Scully</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>fictober 2020 [20]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949467</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>117</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>radiant</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Prompt: "I never wanted anything else."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Come on, Mulder. Let’s get you inside.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scully’s holding the car door open for him, eyes soft and fond, and he is enamored.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He isn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t for her to drive him home. Maybe a slap, or immediate denial. Maybe an expression of regret, a sour face in wait of apology. Maybe to wake up, discovering all of it had been a fever dream.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can stand on my own, you know,” he tells her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you don’t have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her simple, persistent affection counteracts his protests before he even considers voicing them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mulder takes her outstretched hand, small and warm in his own, and lets her help him. Even once he’s on his feet, the door swinging shut behind him, he doesn’t let go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he’s well aware of how badly this all could’ve gone. But with the countdown on the TV and her beside him, warmly radiant even in the sickly waiting room light, he hadn’t been able to think of anything but kissing her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead of distaste, or anger, or fear, she’d rewarded him with the most beautiful smile. As if she’d wanted the same thing, felt the hum of something changing in the air, just like him. As if, like him, she’d been waiting for a very long time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unsurprisingly, he’d immediately wanted to do it again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They keep silent as they walk from the car to his building, as they ride the elevator up to his floor. Her head rests gently against his uninjured arm, though, and the unspoken signal of her comfort communicates more than she could ever say out loud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she unlocks the door to his apartment, her other hand still in his, Mulder almost wants to laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d given her his keys mere weeks after meeting her, and likely fallen in love just as fast, but it’d taken him seven years to kiss her for the first time. And neither of them have questioned it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tea?” She asks, flipping on his lights. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Wordlessly, he nods. When she lets go of him to start the kettle, he misses her touch immediately.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are the pain meds still working?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d almost forgotten he needed them. As it turns out, kissing the love of his life had been one hell of a drug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh.” He glances down at his arm in its sling. “I think so?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emerging from the kitchen, Scully reaches up to cup his jaw, then his forehead, with a degree of care that far outmatches her already unprofessional standard when it comes to him. He barely breathes, looking slowly around her face in the dim light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re alright,” she confirms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’s struck with the sudden urge to count every one of the freckles on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nods. On his cheek, her hand, rubbing away an invisible smudge of dirt. An excuse to touch him, entirely unsubtle. He adores her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that your professional medical opinion?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, Dr. Scully,” he says, watching the smile start to reform on her lips. They’d been so soft, pink and plush under his. “I feel better than just alright.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s crinkles at the corners of her eyes, and Mulder wants them immortalized, etched into her face as she ages. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I can’t verify that,” she tells him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s no way to test for it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” he murmurs. Her thumb brushes gently over his lower lip. “I can think of a couple of things we could try that might get some results.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turns his head, just enough to kiss her palm, listens to the gentle way that her breath catches when he does. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’ve spent so long in restraint that the barest contact feels like unimaginable intimacy. They’ve turned touch into a language of its own, more complex than anything that could be said aloud. They’ve moved so close, now, that kissing her again would be the easiest thing in the world. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hair, winged away from her face. Her eyes, light and hopeful. Her mouth, parted and reverent. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then, the teakettle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scully jumps, a delicate flush coloring her cheeks, as if she’s been caught doing something she shouldn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she rushes to turn off the kettle, he sighs, leaning on the table. Wonders what this means for them, what comes next in the unconventional evolution of their relationship. Wonders whether they’ll talk about it at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not giving you caffeine,” she announces, a steaming mug in each hand, her expression sheepish. “You’ll need rest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wouldn’t keep me up,” he says. It’s true, but she scoffs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s mint.” She hands him the mug, and he immediately sets it aside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you.” He doesn’t want to rest, not with her blushing and lovely in his apartment, looking for all the world like an ingenue in an old Hollywood romance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sniffs at her own mug, and then sets it down beside his. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s no awkwardness between them, but there’s something new, something that’s been building ever since he’d temporarily gained telepathic abilities and nestled his consciousness in her head at the first possible opportunity. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s difficult to doubt the depth of her care for him when he’s sensed them so profoundly, felt them pervading his body on a cellular level. And, in the aftermath, he’s finding it difficult to prioritize anything else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scully,” he starts, and she looks up at him. “Do we need to talk about this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, Mulder,” she says, honestly. “I know what you mean to me. And I think that I mean the same thing to you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Under normal circumstances, her vulnerability would shock him. But things are different now, the shift tectonic and undeniable. He owes her the same trust that she’s showing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You mean everything to me,” he tells her carefully. “And that’s an understatement.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scully wets her lips, and nods, just once. “Then there isn’t anything to talk about.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then she’s leaning in, taking up right where they left off. And her eyes are sure and bright, and he knows that she feels the same way. He’s felt it. But she is at a disadvantage, here, and he doesn’t want her to end up second guessing this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stops her with a gentle touch to her shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think that there’s a couple of things you need to hear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mulder,” she starts, and he reaches for her hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good things, Scully.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There’s a beat, her throat bobbing as she swallows. Mulder lifts her palm to his chest, nestles it against his heart, and she nods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he could let her into his head, he would. There’s no guarantee she’ll believe him otherwise. But telling her how he feels, at least this once, is the best he can do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our relationship is the most important one in my life,” he says, keeping his eyes on hers. “It has been since the day I met you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mulder, you don’t have to –” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The most important one, Scully,” he repeats, keeping her hand right there, snuggled into the fabric of his shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” she murmurs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She doesn’t say it back, not then, but she doesn’t need to. He’s already heard it, in her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re it for me,” he continues, unfazed. “And I don’t think I’ll be able to let you go. So, if we do this, there’s no going back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.” She doesn’t look scared, only shy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that okay with you?” He asks, watching her carefully. If she has any doubts, he wants to know, now. “Is this what you want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mulder,” she says, and she’s blinking rapidly, but her voice is clearer than ever. “I never wanted anything else.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The feeling of being chosen, of being cared for, doesn’t feel new or unfamiliar anymore. But it never ceases to knock the wind out of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your heart is beating too fast,” Scully tells him, glancing down at where her palm rests on his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you blame me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time, when she smiles up at him, there’s tears in the corners of her eyes. “Not at all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They pass a few more moments in shared silence, and then she wraps both of her hands around his, and lifts it to cup her cheek. He could write a dozen sonnets trying to capture the breadth of emotion he feels, and even if he had a talent for poetics, it still wouldn’t come close to communicating as much as her simple gesture. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I kiss you now?” She asks, sarcastic and chivalrous all at once. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he must be mooning at her, he knows, a big dopey grin and lovestruck doe eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, please.”</span>
</p>
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